IGN recently spent five hours playing Splinter Cell: Blacklist's multiplayer, both cooperatively and competitively. Blacklist features the most ambitious multiplayer Splinter Cell has ever seen, with even bigger goals than Conviction. It's a lot to digest -- so we've made it as digestible as possible.

Blacklist has 14 missions you can only play in co-op. Each objective I played lasted 10-30 minute -- sometimes considerably longer if my partner and I failed a bunch.

Each of the four mission types relies on who sends you into the field -- Charlie Cole, Kobin, Grim, and Briggs each assign you different goals with varied win/lose conditions.

Grim, for example, wants you to retrieve information without alerting a guard. That means instant-fail stealth, which is already frustrating without someone else to blow your cover. At the same time, accomplishing your goal perfectly, even if it is after an hour of trial and error, feels fantastic.

Briggs is the other Splinter Cell in the field with Sam. He’s essentially a palette swap for Sam, like Archer and Kestrel were in Conviction.

You can customize Briggs’ suit and loadout to the same degree as Sam (so yes, he can have pink or purple goggle lights, too.)

No, shoot the spy, dummy. (Spies vs. Mercs)

Like Conviction, you and your co-op partner can roll into the field with wildly different gear. Let your individual play styles blossom and coordinate strikes using different gadgets and guns, if you decide to kill anyone at all.

Mark-and-execute functions differently in co-op than it does in Conviction or Blacklist's campaign -- guys with helmets might require a double-tap to the head, so you can both activate the auto-fire mode to take those shots together. Ah, teamwork.

Like the campaign, some missions have (seemingly) unavoidable action sequences with tons of dudes using big, loud guns. One of the missions even ends with an on-foot escape sequence similar to Halo: Combat Evolved's finale.

Spies vs. Mercs returns as Splinter Cell’s competitive multiplayer mode. It’s basically hide-and-seek, but with guns, knives, gadgets, and murder, and it comes in two flavors: Classic and Blacklist.

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It's a great balance of power and handicap on both sides.

In Classic, a team of two spies infiltrates areas guarded by two mercenaries. Pandora Tomorrow and Chaos Theory fans know the drill: The spies try to hack information from control points, the mercs try to stop them. In Classic, the 2-on-2 combat creates a slow-paced tension that feels a lot like older Splinter Cell games.

In Blacklist, Spies vs. Mercs goes all out. Team sizes are doubled for a total of eight player. That gets loud and messy, but there are enough interesting variables amid the chaos to keep everyone on their toes, all the while creating a frantic, fun kind of stress on both sides.

Each team can customize their suits in Spies vs. Mercs Blacklist, similar to Sam Fisher in the campaign. If you’re an aggressive spy, equipping apparel that makes you stronger might be the better alternative to stealth boots you won’t benefit from.

Units also pack new skills and gadgets unique to their team. For example, spies can cloak, monitor enemies through walls, or send out explosive aerial drones if they select that particular gadget; mercs, meanwhile, can track their enemies with an Aliens-esque motion tracker, deploy anti-drone tech, or inject adrenaline to counteract incoming fire.

Spies thrive on instant-kill melee strikes, although they can pack effective guns. Mercs, meanwhile, have the range and armor advantage, but have grisly, borderline-uncomfortable execution animations if they get the drop on an unsuspecting spy. It's a great balance of power and handicap on both sides, which makes both sides fun to play.